Big Concern over CPFIS

• Avfyrais satkäring

  29 Mar 10, 17:14

  CPF Scheme under scrutiny

  SINGAPORE : Should the CPF Investment Scheme be stopped so that members will not risk losing their retirement nest egg?

  Yes, thinks a resident who claimed that he had lost some $350,000 in his CPF account after investing in shares under CPFIS.

  The Lengkong Tiga resident, who identified himself as Mr Goh, said during the ministerial dialogue on Sunday that he only got back $35,000 eventually but did not say if these were the gains from the investments or the amount he could withdraw from his Ordinary Account (OA) on top of the Minimum Sum.

  He also did not say how he lost the sum and whether the investments spanned a few years.

  MediaCorp understands that members can only invest up to 35 per cent of their money in their OA in shares.

  Mr Goh said he had suggested to the CPF Board to stop allowing members to invest in shares but staff had replied that it was his personal choice to make the investments.

  Second Minister for Finance Lim Hwee Hua said she agreed with the CPF Board’s stance, adding that there had been "a lot of demand" for the Government to allow members to invest their CPF money before the CPFIS was introduced.

  She quipped: "I’ll convey your feedback to the CPF Board but I’m not quite sure the rest will agree that we should stop the scheme."

  The latest performance numbers of funds under the CPFIS released earlier this month pointed to a solid year.

  According to Lipper, the funds tracking company under the CPF Board’s guidelines, the average return of CPFIS—included funds, unit trusts and investment—linked insurance products (ILPs) rose 38.62 per cent last year compared with the same period a year ago. — TODAY

  CNA 29 March

• angel7030

  29 Mar 10, 17:23

  When temasek and GIC needs money to breakeven their account, CPFIS is the best place to chop, cos most of them are laymen investors who dun even understand bonds and unit trust, nor do they know about recession, statistic and figures. It is a chopping board for Govt. And now then someone feedback that he lost 350k there, and the Govt will act in a surprise way and said "Oh! is it?"

• mancha

  29 Mar 10, 18:40

  You invest, whether your free cash or CPF fund, you understand that you can profit or lose.

  This guy claim to have lost $350k, it is not the entire amount of his CPF account.

  There is a bit of sensationalization generated by the figure. He could have made a paper profit of $400k, and lost $350k of it. 

   

• As romanista2001

  29 Mar 10, 19:03

  so this Mr Goh's ordinary a/c got 1 million....................if he made money, he'll complain CPF only allow him to use 35% and not 100%...........

  maybe this is a bullshit case by PAP to stop people from using their CPF funds so the GIC can use it instead.

  CPF should be freely used by the people since it's their money !

• maxtor

  29 Mar 10, 19:41

  how come no one complain about making too much money?

   

  Surely got those pple make $350 000 from their CPF investments, how come they never come forward and say, " i made $350k from my investments ... pls take CPFIS away if not everyone makes money then Singapore will suffer from hyperinflation.. "

• Atobe

  30 Mar 10, 01:27

   

  Can one utillise $350,000 from one's CPF account - when there is a clear line drawn that require sufficient sums for the minimum sums for retirement, medisave, medishield, and all the other schemes to peel away our CPF monies ?

  Obviously, this fictitious Mr Goh must have more then $1,000,000 in his CPF that allow him to have used $350,000 from his CPF.

  Can one be bitching about one's losses of $350,000 from the CPF - when this Mr Goh will probably be having larger amounts in cash savings, or other fixed deposits, or even in other asset forms ?

  This is clearly a PAP ploy to justify their own intention to limit the present access that we can have to our CPF - as they have been doing in various step-by-step stages over the last 10 years.

  It is the usual PAP way - of dropping the first hint of what is to come, then comes to debate, and finally the implementation despite whatever comes up from the very public debates.

  The decision is already made, all the ensuing acts are just what it is - ACTS.

   

  More funds in the CPF will mean more funds available to GIC and Temasek that will allow them to generate cash - to fill up the big hole that they have created with the publicly declared losses of US$100 Billion during 2008 to 2009.

   

• charlize

  30 Mar 10, 12:03

  Well, this could be a precursor as to what they want to do in the future - lock in more funds in the CPF.

   

  But then again, what's new?

   

   

• charlize

  30 Mar 10, 12:11

   

  I read another forum and a lot of people think the idea of losing so much CPF money through investment sounds phony.

• Clivebenss

  30 Mar 10, 12:16

  Originally posted by charlize:

  Well, this could be a precursor as to what they want to do in the future - lock in more funds in the CPF.

   

  But then again, what's new?

   

   

  CPF is still a fund.......

  

• Acidshuriken

  30 Mar 10, 13:40

  whiner. nobody ask him invest. investment means there is a risk.
• Dondontan

  30 Mar 10, 13:43

  Originally posted by Acidshuriken:

  whiner. nobody ask him invest. investment means there is a risk.

  
  There is a risk in investment.    I don't understand the rationale for him to approach CPF Board to stop people using the fund for investment.    It is all his fault if he cannot manage his finance well.   

  This has nothing to do with the govt, not the govt's fault.   

• Wmyongj

  30 Mar 10, 14:21

  Sovereign funds are borrowing money from the market , Singaporean must be prepared to contribute to the losses of that these ppl scrwed up.

• pearlie27

  30 Mar 10, 20:12

  If CPFIS should be scrapped just cos pple lost money in their investments then Temasek and GIC should also close down as these 2 organisations have lost billions!
• soul_rage

  30 Mar 10, 20:46

  Do not agree with the view of the Singaporean who lost 350k.

  It's your choice on what investments to make, knowing full well the risks when you go in (and if you do not understand the risks well before you go in, it's also one's own fault)

  This person sounds more like someone who needs others to spoonfeed him.

• Acidshuriken

  31 Mar 10, 09:36

  i think overall is sporeans don't know risk and scared of risk. only if minibond then got case as banks misrepresent to sell the products.
• charlize

  31 Mar 10, 11:02

  If you can lose $350K of CPF money, that means you must have been contributing quite a fair bit to CPF ie earning a high salary every month for a very long time. 

   

  So is this a genuine case of investments gone very bad?

   

  Or is there more to it than meets the eye?